Single-stream system increases recycling

One bin for all recyclables makes things simple

A receptacle overflows with recyclables as a Waste Management truck makes a curbside pickup Monday in Carlsbad. The city’s single-stream system is credited with an increase in recycling. BILL WECHTER • U-T

A receptacle overflows with recyclables as a Waste Management truck makes a curbside pickup Monday in Carlsbad. The city’s single-stream system is credited with an increase in recycling. BILL WECHTER • U-T

CARLSBAD  Recycling has been booming in Carlsbad since the city started its single-stream, automated collection system last year, officials said last week.

Total recycling tonnage was up 52 percent from July 1 through Dec. 31 compared to the same six months in 2011, said Craig Schmollinger of the city Utilities Department.

“It makes it a lot simpler to recycle,” he said of the new system.

The city collected 6,594 tons of recyclable material in the last six months of 2012, he said Friday, up from 4,342 tons in the same time period a year earlier.

Two things have contributed to the increase, Schmollinger said. One is the ease of the single-stream collection, which allows residents to toss all of their recyclable materials into one container and wheel it to the curb.

Until July, Carlsbad residents had to separate recyclable material into two crates — one for paper and one for metal, glass and plastic — and then carry those to the curb. Trash collectors had to empty each crate by hand.

Now, the collection process is automated — the recycling containers, as well as green waste and trash containers, are emptied by a hydraulic arm operated by the driver.

“We are actually the last city in all the county to switch over to this system,” Schmollinger said.

Also, he said, the city had a big push to publicize the system and let people know what should or should not go into the containers.

Waste Management, the huge national company that is the trash collector for most of San Diego County, takes all of its North County recyclable materials to an Orange County processing center for sorting.

The system uses programmable sensors to separate materials, he said. For example, it uses puffs of air to knock lighter times such as plastic bottles into bins.

Still, some things get into the recycling system that don’t belong there.

Plastic bags are the biggest nuisance, he said. They can be recycled, but they cause problems in the automated system and don’t belong there.

Other “contamination” that sometimes turns up in the automated system include “pieces of wood, used toiletry … paper towels can be a tough one,” Schmollinger said.

“They’ll get things like tires, tree branches, even shoes,” he added.

While the idea of recycling is largely to divert material from landfills, Carlsbad’s total tonnage of nonrecyclable waste also increased last year.

“With the economy picking up it seems like people actually purchase more items, which causes more waste byproducts,” Schmollinger said. “We have no solid figures on that yet, but all indications show it is a very small increase.”

Along with its streamlined recycling, the city also initiated a collection system for electronic waste such as televisions, computers and phones.

Small items such as phones and batteries can be placed in plastic bags and left atop the blue-topped recycling container for pickup.

For curbside removal of a large electronic item, call (760) 929-9400 and make an appointment.